Tribal family of three rescued minutes before elephants flatten house in Chhattisgarh's Jashpur

RAIPUR: Three tribal members of a family were pulled out of their mud house just minutes before an 11-elephant herd reached and flattened it in Chhattisgarh’s Jashpur district, in a midnight rescue that averted a likely tragedy.

The incident occurred in Bhadrapara hamlet of Tildega village in Pathalgaon forest range, where the family of Jai Kumar Nag was living in a kutcha house in their fields. Forest officials, who had been tracking the herd for the past fortnight in the Nandanjhariya forest and alerting nearby villages, moved in after sensing imminent danger.The team evacuated the family members to safety moments before the elephants arrived and began pulling down the house.

Though unharmed, the survivors were left shaken by the close encounter.Jashpur DFO Shashikumar said the same herd damaged three other houses in the area. Compensation cases have been registered for all affected families.In a parallel account of the operation, forest officials said they received an alert around midnight on March 24 that an elderly couple was trapped inside the house as elephants surrounded it. While one of the occupants Jai Kumar managed to escape, his parents Bitan Nag (65) and Rajmati Nag (60) — remained inside, unable to step out due to the herd.

Following the alert, Jashpur DFO said that a patrolling staff and a rapid response team was dispatched. Amid tense scenes and anxious villagers, the team first drove the elephants in a safe direction, secured the area, and then entered the house to evacuate the elderly couple.The two were shifted to a safer location in a govt vehicle.The herd has been under constant surveillance, with advance alerts issued to villages to minimise risk.Officials said swift action by the forest team prevented what could have been a fatal human-elephant conflict.